Syria says it nabbed Assad regime general allegedly involved in 2013 chemical attack

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s interior minister says it detained an Assad-era general accused of involvement in the 2013 Ghouta chemical attack.

In a post on X, Anas Khattab says that “Adnan Abboud Hilweh, one of the most prominent officers responsible for the chemical massacre in Eastern Ghouta in 2013, is now in the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department.”

US intelligence says more than 1,000 people were killed with sarin nerve gas in the suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, in 2013 during Syria’s civil war.

The attack was attributed to the Syrian government under the rule of Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in late 2024.

The government at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels.

Hilweh was one of three Syrian generals accused by the US State Department in 2022 of involvement in “gross violations of human rights, namely the flagrant denial of the right to life of at least 1,400 people in Ghouta,” banning them along with their immediate family from entering the country.

اللواء عدنان عبود حلوة أحد أبرز الضباط المسؤولين عن مجزرة الكيماوي في الغوطة الشرقية عام 2013 بات اليوم في قبضة إدارة مكافحة الارهاب. pic.twitter.com/24QktTSIO6

— أنس حسان خطاب (@Anas_Khattab_sy) April 29, 2026